


What We Thought Was Forever

by Minatu



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, M/M, Minor Hanamura Chigusa/Matsuoka Gou, Minor Hazuki Nagisa/Ryuugazaki Rei, minor Mikoshiba Momotarou/Matsuoka Rin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-24
Updated: 2014-11-24
Packaged: 2018-02-26 17:23:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2660252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minatu/pseuds/Minatu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time they met was at a funeral.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Youth

**Author's Note:**

> I've written this very story many times and in several different ways before I finally found the version that I actually like.

It was a particularly warm day for Fall, and people were just beginning to arrive in the orange light of sunset. There were several cars parked out in the lot, and most of the people Nitori didn't even know. His father seemed to, and had his hands full talking to the guests who kept apologizing to them for some reason. Nitori didn't understand much of anything, and he was more than a little frightened, hiding behind his father's legs whenever strange people started to approach him. 

Nitori didn't like the clothes he had been forced to wear by an angry grandmother, who just continued to curse and  _curse_ his father because whatever was happening was all his father's fault. Nitori's father, however, seemed rather placid despite the slight slump in his shoulders and the permanent frown that seemed to be slowly cementing itself forever to him. Nitori didn't understand, and he didn't like it. He was being apologized to over and over again, and he still didn't know what had been lost... 

Then a couple came in with a kid just around Nitori's age. It was the first time that he had ever seen the other boy before. He was taller than Nitori, and probably older too. The lady smiled at Nitori and paused to push her own son a few steps forward toward Nitori.

"Hi," the other boy said softly. 

"Hi," Nitori echoed, somehow having lost his father, so he couldn't strategically hide behind him in that moment. 

"Uh, my mom said that I have to talk to you..." the dark haired boy admitted with a slight blush. Nitori was a little surprised to find that this kid was also shy, despite seeming like the type to be surrounded by friends.

"Y-you don't have to..." Nitori responded, twisting his hands into the sleeves of his tuxedo. The other kid shrugged slightly.

"What's your name, anyway?" he asked. Nitori jumped slightly at the sudden question.

"Ni-nitori aiichirou," he answered, nervously staring at the ground.

"Nice to meet you, Ai. You can call me Sousuke," Sousuke said with a smile. Nitori stared at him with wide eyes. 

"Okay," he replied softly. It wasn't long after that the two of them were separated by their parents for the service. It wasn't very long before the idea of Nitori's mother was never coming back settled in, and it being just him and his dad was natural.

* * *

In some ways, elementary school was probably the hardest for Nitori. He didn't seem to get along well with anyone. No one really wanted to be his friend or have any association with him at all. The worst of it had probably been the name-calling that came along with this. Things like "gross" or "retarded" were tossed his way, and he was neither of those things. Just because his clothes were a little wrinkly because his dad didn't always get them folded on time didn't mean a thing. It wasn't like his dad could even get much help from a sitter or anything because he was a guy, and most the time they refused to talk to the dads, regardless of the situation. After the first year of that, Nitori became even more-so withdrawn than before. 

During this time, Nitori developed the habit of reading in the backyard, safe from the silence and the frightening size of his own home. One time, he decided to climb into the big, apple tree, which was a bit of a chore, but once he had, he discovered that just over the fence was the house of someone quite familiar. He lived next door to Sousuke, the guy who was at his mother's funeral, and really the only friend Nitori had made in a while. This resulted in a bit of fence hopping by the older boy, a feat that Nitori was impressed by. He didn't he could do that sort of thing.

"What're you reading?" Sousuke asked. He had seen Nitori many times before, but it had been hard for him to work up the confidence to go and say "hi". Now that he was there, it wasn't so bad though.

"Uhh..." Nitori started, closing the book to read the title, " _A Dog's Life_." Sousuke frowned slightly.

"Never heard of it," he said after a moment. Nitori smiled slightly, even laughing, which resulted in Sousuke finding out that he quite liked seeing Nitori with a smile on his face instead of that straight line of sadness.

"I'm not surprised... most people don't like reading sad stories," Nitori replied. Sousuke frowned slightly.

"It's sad?" he asked.

"So far it is," Nitori replied, hesitating as he wasn't sure if Sousuke wanted him to tell him about it or not. Sousuke climbed up into the apple tree, seating himself beside Nitori.

"Tell me about it," he told Nitori with a curious expression.

"Well, the main character is a dog named Squirrel... and well, a lot happens until Squirrel meets Moon... and they were hit by a car, and both of them are being taken to a vet now," Nitori explained a little briefly. He frowned slightly, "Moon was Squirrel's first friend..." Sousuke stared at Nitori for a moment.

"So why are you reading it if it makes you so sad?" he asked, poking Nitori in the arm gently. Nitori frowned slightly, considering the question for a moment.

"Because it's a good story," Nitori responded after a moment, "It feels real." Sousuke stared at Nitori for a long time.

"That's weird," he deadpanned. Nitori blushed slightly.

"Yeah... I guess it is," he looked away, reaching a hand up toward his face.

"Not that that's a bad thing though," Sousuke attempted to recover the situation. Nitori smiled behind his hand, trying not to laugh. 

"I know," he giggled slightly, and Sousuke grinned.

* * *

Walking to school with Sousuke on his first day at a new school was a little weird. He had decided to go to the same middle school as Sousuke, even though his father had been planning to send him to a different one, and although it was weird, it was a nice sort of weird. Although they had no classes together because Sousuke was two years older than Nitori, it was nice to be able to spend each morning and afternoon going to and from the school building with a friend. 

Though it wasn't long before that was spoiled for Nitori. It hit him suddenly, like a ton of bricks. He woke up one morning after having a very...  _strange_ dream that made it rather awkward to be around Sousuke, but he did his very best to act like he usually did as to not raise attention to himself. Luckily for him, Sousuke didn't seem to notice. Nitori was quite troubled by this, and although it didn't seem like his feelings toward Sousuke had changed at all, at the very same time, everything was very, very different. _  
_

As a result, Nitori tried to distance himself from Sousuke. It helped that this happened near the end of the school year, and the next, Sousuke was going to the local high school via bike, which meant they rarely crossed paths anymore. Sousuke suddenly busy with whatever high school entailed, and Nitori doing his very best to sort himself out. 

Things started to go downhill for Nitori in his second year. Somehow, the other guys could tell he was different from him, and bruises started to be a daily occurrence for Nitori. He was used to making excuses about it whenever his dad happened to ask about it, though most of the time, Nitori's father was far too tired to notice. In the couple of days that Nitori would see Sousuke, he would always comment on the bruises, wondering if everything was alright. It troubled Nitori because Sousuke was really just too nice to him. 

**.**

Nitori's dad was surprised to find that Nitori had left his homework, which he had been working late into the night on. It was in this moment, that he noticed that there was a note with another person's name on it, which concerned him rather deeply. However, there was not much that he could do himself. Luckily enough, when he stepped out the house to catch Nitori on his way to school, he caught Sousuke who was about to leave. Nitori's dad had carefully put all of the work into a folder, figuring he preferred his son in one piece.

"You still go to school the same way as Aiichirou, right?" he asked Sousuke, walking up slowly. Sousuke looked up at Nitori's dad in surprise. He had never really talked to his friend's dad before to begin with. 

"Yeah..." he answered slowly.

"Could you take this to him?" Nitori's dad asked, "And, if you don't mind, keep looking out for him. He's a very gentle boy, just like his mother." Sousuke nodded, taking the folder, and Nitori's dad walked away quickly. Sousuke thought what he had said was a little weird but didn't really think about it too hard. He just hopped on his bike and headed toward the middle school. What Sousuke found was something that disturbed him greatly. A pair of guys who were obviously stronger than Nitori, one of which had his arm around Nitori's shoulders, and Sousuke's first thought was to do something about it, but for some reason, it didn't seem like something he should do.

So instead of taking action, he hopped off his bike, approaching them with an easy smile, "Ai!" he lifted a hand to wave, and the thing was, Sousuke was always a broad guy. The immediate reaction of the pair that were messing with Nitori was to run off, and so they did.

"Sousuke...?" Nitori said in surprise, "Should you be headed to school?" 

"Your dad told me to give you this," Sousuke replied, holding the folder out to Nitori. Nitori gave the folder a once over before opening it to peer inside, his face turning bright red as he saw what was inside.

"Th-thank you," Nitori replied softly, blocking part of his face with the folder. 

"So that's where the bruises have been coming from, right?" Sousuke asked, pointing in the direction that the pair of guys had run off in. 

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Nitori asked with barely concealed surprise. Sousuke reached out, pushing the folder away from Nitori's face.

"You know what I'm talking about," he responded sternly. Nitori looked back, still blushing slightly.

"It's fine, re-really," Nitori said unconvincingly. Sousuke sighed, adjusting his bike slightly so it didn't run into anything.

"I understand... solve your own problems," he replied after a moment, stepping back onto his bike, "Just, uh, if you ever want help, you know where to find me." With that, Sousuke rode off into the cool morning. Nitori watched after him, at a loss for words. He hadn't really expected Sousuke to react that way, but at the same time, he was glad that he had. Sousuke was respecting Nitori's decision...

* * *

 

It wasn't until high school that Nitori finally decided to face himself. He was gay, and he had a long standing crush on his childhood friend. That wasn't all that unusual... He just couldn't reveal any of this. He was rather happily sitting in the illusion of mystery. He wasn't really much of one for clubs either, though he was interested in theater... He just couldn't seem to muster the confidence to join the club. Sousuke, however, was on the swim team and had several friends that weren't Nitori. 

High school was starting out as a very lonely period of Nitori's life. Middle school wasn't so bad because he had the illusion of being Sousuke's only friend. Yet the gargantuan size of the school on top of only knowing one person, who might find him just a little bit annoying, put Nitori at quite the disadvantage. 

"Oh, sorry, I didn't see-" an unfamiliar voice began cheerfully. Nitori picked his stuff up, meeting the magenta eyes of a perky looking blond boy. He leaned forward, inspecting Nitori's face curiously, "You know... you look like you'd be interested in the Improv Team!" He pulled out a flier toward Nitori, entirely unbashedly. 

"Uh-" Nitori started, gearing up to decline before he learned a single thing about the club that this person was advertising. 

"Oh! My name's Hazuki Nagisa," the guy told Nitori cheerfully, "I'd really appreciate you consider joining the club before you decline, just so you know." Hazuki winked at Nitori. Nitori blushed automatically in response.

"Al-alright," Nitori answered slowly, taking the sheet. He was surprised to find that it wasn't really an improvisation based club as advertised. It was, in actuality, an awareness group for people who didn't fit into what was considered to be the "social norm". Nitori was surprised that that Hazuki guy could tell that he'd be curious with just one look.

After two days, Nitori finally gained enough confidence to go and see what the club was all about for himself.

"You- you- you!" a girl shouted, shaking a single finger at Hazuki, who presently looked astonished. Then when he saw Nitori, he smiled broadly.

"Hey! You came!" he cheered, "Now we just need one more member!" The other girl jumped happily and hugged Hazuki before turning to Nitori with an equally bright, tight lipped smile.

"Hi there! I'm Hanamura Chigusa! Nice to meet ya," she greeted him gently.

"He-hello, Hanamura-san..." Nitori responded slowly, "I'm Nitori Aiichirou." She bobbed her head slightly, her smile still plastered onto her face.

"We're all friends here! Call me Nagisa, and her Chigusa. I'll call you Ai-chan," Nagisa said quickly. Nitori blushed in response because quite suddenly he was being expected to use the other two's first names, and it was all a little overwhelming.

"So, could you fill out this form, if you decide to officially join?" Chigusa asked, handing him the traditional club form. Nitori nodded slightly in agreement. The next day, there was another girl with dark brown hair and dark eyes. She was more docile that Nagisa and Chigusa, which was nice. The four of them ended up spending tons of time together, and even walking home together until they came to places where they had to split up. It was the first time that Nitori really had friends his own age, and it was as wonderful as it was tiring.

**.**

It was late fall, and leaves were covering the ground. Nitori had decided to spend some time outside, reading, as it was just a little bit nostalgic. He had spent a lot of time in the apple tree with Sousuke when he was younger, and his heart still ached a little bit when he thought about Sousuke. Things really did change over time.

"What're you reading?" Nitori jumped, his voice was very different, but he immediately recognized who it was. He stared at Sousuke in surprise, his mouth hanging open slightly. Sousuke smiled slightly. Nitori hadn't really noticed just how much taller Sousuke had gotten, but now the fence sat just below Sousuke's chest. Sousuke was currently leaning against the top of the fence nonchalantly.

"I'm reading  _Perdido Street Station_ ," Nitori responded, moving his thumb against the smooth cover of the paperback. 

"You never get tired of reading all those books, huh?" Sousuke commented, looking genuinely interested.

"Well, I've slowed down a lot," Nitori replied after a moment of thought. Sousuke smiled, reminiscently.

"I remember when you read  _Sounder_  to me," he said softly. Nitori blushed, suddenly remembering this occurrence, and it was kind of embarrassing. He still couldn't believe Sousuke made him read it aloud to him. Sousuke would always have to go whenever they got to interesting parts too. It was kind of painful, but Nitori never once read ahead.

"I can't believe you do," Nitori responded, hiding his face behind the rim of his book.

"I really liked that book," Sousuke defended, a blush of his own coloring his face. Nitori laughed at this.

"So, what's 'Perdido Street Station' about?" Sousuke asked. Nitori frowned slightly.

"Well, it's hard to explain because there are so many plot lines in the story, but I guess you could say it's about a scientist and a caterpillar," Nitori answered thoughtfully. Sousuke frowned slightly.

"Sounds weird," he commented. Nitori nodded his head in agreement, a smile spreading across his face again.

"It  _is_ weird," Nitori replied.

"Nice to know some things never change," Sousuke said suddenly, confusing Nitori. Sousuke sounded a little wistful.

"What do you mean?" Nitori asked.

"I've just been worrying a lot about college lately," he sighed, reaching toward the back of his neck. This was an old habit of Sousuke's. Nitori smiled slightly, finding resemblance in the Sousuke he once knew then.

"Things change," he responded wisely. He had probably read it in a book somewhere, but that wasn't really the point.

"Yeah, they really do..." And that was the last time the two of them spoke for a long time.


	2. In Adulthood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next time they met, it was at a wedding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, I did not mean for this to be a two part-er at all, honest. It just felt better that way.

Nitori hadn't thought about Sousuke for a long time. His lifetime friends ended up being some people from his club in high school, and several people in college. It was surprising how friendships worked though. He was invited to a wedding, Chigusa's, in fact, and that was when Nitori met Chigusa's fiancee, Kou, for the first time. He was surprised, however, to see Sousuke there. Apparently Sousuke and Kou's brother had been on the same swim team in college and ended up a family friend. 

So there he was, just as handsome as Nitori remembered him, and it sort of took Nitori's breath away. 

"Ai-kun, this is my wife, Kou," Chigusa said, pulling the pretty red head up, "I'm sorry that you two couldn't have met before now, but Kou is always so busy!" Chigusa said this with a happy smile, and quite the blush on her face.

"Nice to meet you, Matsuoka-san," Nitori said with a smile. She smiled back.

"You were in that club with Chigusa, huh?" she asked, "I heard a lot about it from Chigusa... she says it saved her life." Kou smiled at Chigusa when she said the first part before giving Nitori a thankful look. Nitori smiled nervously, not really knowing how to react to that at all. Suddenly, Nitori was attacked with a hug by someone.

"Ai-chan! I haven't seen you in forever~" Nagisa said cheerfully. 

"You saw me a couple days ago," Nitori responded. Nagisa laughed at this, waving Nitori's comment off. 

"Gou-chan! You look beautiful!" Nagisa cheered, turning toward her and then to Chigusa to talk to her excitedly. Nitori found himself smiling at his friends and laughing a bit. Later, Kou dragged Nitori over to where her brother was, which happened to also be where Sousuke was. Nitori had been trying to avoid Sousuke the whole time, but his plan was quickly going to be foiled apparently.

"Rin! This is Nitori. He's also single," Kou said. Nitori turned bright red.

"Wha-what!?" he gasped. Rin smiled slightly, revealing these insanely sharp teeth that frightened Nitori a bit. 

"Nice to meet you, Nitori," he said. Nitori nodded slightly.

"Ai?" Sousuke spoke suddenly, gaining all three's attention.

"Eh? You know him?" Kou asked, pointing toward Nitori, who now wanted to go hide in a ditch somewhere. 

"We grew up together," Sousuke answered nonchalantly. His eyes never leaving Nitori's face.

"N-nice to see you again," Nitori responded. Kou grinned, leaving Nitori then to fend for himself. 

"And here you thought you weren't going to know anyone here," Rin smiled, throwing an arm around Sousuke, who nodded slightly in response. Nitori stood there, looking between them nervously. Sousuke laughed slightly, looking toward Rin for a moment.

"So what have you been up to?" Sousuke asked. Nitori opened his mouth, then closed it again with a slight frown.

"I, uh, work at an elementary school," he answered after a moment, a blush coloring his cheeks. 

"You're a teacher!" Rin said in surprise, then after a moment added, "You do have the look for it..." Nitori gave Rin a weird look.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"I think Rin's trying to say you look like a nice person," Sousuke answered after a moment. Rin blushed slightly.

"Yeah, that's it," he agreed, though it wasn't actually what he was thinking, and Sousuke had to elbow him to keep him from saying something dumb.

"Ah, Rin-chan!" Nagisa said, appearing suddenly beside Nitori.

"Don't call me that," Rin answered automatically. Nitori jumped slightly at the harshness of his tone.

"I'm going to have to steal Ai-chan from you, for a moment," Nagisa said and dragged Nitori away. After that, Nitori didn't really get much of a chance to talk to Sousuke.... though now he sort of didn't want to lose contact with Sousuke again, Nitori never took the small moments he may have been able to take a chance. Their eyes met multiple times that day.

* * *

The next time Nitori saw Sousuke was by pure chance. Nagisa wanted to take Nitori to a new cafe to try it out, and Sousuke was there, meeting with someone Nitori didn't know. Nothing should have come of it. Nitori had no intention of going over and speaking to Sousuke, he didn't have that sort of confidence. Nagisa ended up abandoning him to go help his boyfriend with something involving something. Nagisa had spoke too fast for Nitori to really know what had happened, but it seemed important. He would have to ask about it later.

"This seat taken?" Nitori looked up to find Sousuke standing there in front of him. 

"N-no!" Nitori replied quickly, moving some of his and Nagisa's stuff out of the way.

"I meant to talk to you more at the wedding, but I didn't get much of a chance to," Sousuke started. Nitori smiled slightly, "I wanted to ask how you've been doing..." 

"Uh, well," Nitori began thoughtfully, "I've been okay, I guess." He shrugged slightly, unwilling to talk about the everlasting loneliness that seemed to inflict him, "How about you?"

"Good," Sousuke responded, stretching his legs out beneath the table to where they sat on either side of Nitori. Nitori blushed slightly, trying to make himself smaller in response.

"I need to tell you something, Ai," Sousuke said with a sigh. 

"O-okay," Nitori replied after a moment, not sure where Sousuke was going with this.

"I've missed you. I didn't really realize it until I saw you at the wedding, but I know now that I want us to be friends again," Sousuke said seriously. Nitori furrowed his eyebrows.

"That... you don't have to propose being friends in such a weird manner," Nitori pointed out, barely concealing his embarrassment. Sousuke smiled.

"Alright then, give me your number," Sousuke said. Nitori sighed and complied. They sat in the cafe for a while, simply catching up. Nitori found out that Sousuke had to quit swimming because of an injury, which surprised him. He also finally came clean to Sousuke about being gay, which Sousuke took really well. He then proceeded to tell Nitori that Rin was also gay, and kind of interested in Nitori... Nitori quickly said no to being set up by Sousuke. The crush Nitori thought he had buried a long time ago was already beginning to resurface, and quite frankly, he was not going to date someone when he was interested in someone else.

**.**

_Hey, do you want to go to the festival? Chigusa, Kou and Rin will be there too._

Nitori stared at the message for a long time, wondering if Sousuke was still trying to set him up with Rin. He couldn't be sure. He typed back a simple "ok" before turning the lights out to go to sleep. The following weekend, he was with the other three, waiting on Sousuke, who had been delayed by traffic.

"Ai-kun, you've been spending a lot of time with Sousuke-kun, right?" Chigusa asked Nitori softly, while Kou was distracted by her brother who was acting like a "sour-puss" or something... Nitori didn't really follow their conversation.

"Yeah," Nitori nodded slightly.

"Do... do you like him again?" she inquired worriedly.

"He's a good person," Nitori replied, blushing. Chigusa frowned slightly.

"Well, Sousuke hasn't really dated anyone as far as I can tell..." she told Nitori slowly, "It's possible that he just likes having friends though. Like he's aromantic, or something." Chigusa was trying to forewarn Nitori, who smiled thankfully in response.

"It's okay, Chigusa-san... Don't worry about me," Nitori said.

"Gou! You really shouldn't bully your brother too much!" Sousuke laughed as he walked up to them. He was still wearing a suit, and it looked really good on him. Sousuke was already pulling his tie off though.

"If I don't then how will I straighten out this brother of mine?" Kou responded. Chigusa laughed softly.

"He'll just have to learn from his mistakes," Chigusa responded.

"Hmm... I'm not sure if that'll be a good idea," Sousuke said with a motion toward where Rin was. Rin was talking to a guy who was a bit taller than him, though obviously younger. 

"Leave him," Kou decided bitterly, when she saw the guy.

"Isn't that your ex-boyfriend's younger brother...?" Chigusa asked curiously. Kou looked at her wife with a small smile.

"It is," she replied, "Momotarou had a  _huge_ crush on me too." Chigusa giggled.

"You're too cruel," she said. Sousuke looked a little frightened by Kou.

"Ai, come with me before Gou rubs off on you," he said, pulling Nitori over to a goldfish stand. Nitori's eyes lit up.

"You remembered that I loved this kart, didn't you?" he asked, looking toward Sousuke suspiciously. Sousuke smiled slightly.

"Maybe," he answered cryptically. The two of them paid and got a net. Nitori laughed when Sousuke's broke. They ended up spending the majority of the night together despite coming with the others. They did finally join up for the fireworks, though Rin showed up with the guy he'd been flirting with. 

The fireworks eventually burst into the sky, making all conversation essentially impossible. Nitori took the chance to look at Sousuke, who glanced over at him, meeting their eyes and smiled at Nitori. Nitori was surprised by this and blushed a bit. Subconsciously, Nitori and Sousuke's hands found each other and intertwined their fingers.

**.**

"Ehh!! You held hands?" Nagisa gasped in excitement. Nitori blushed, fidgeting a little.

"Yeah, but I think it was more platonic..." Nitori attempted to convince himself more than Nagisa. Nagisa smiled knowingly at Nitori.

"You know... Rei-chan thought the same thing when I started flirting with him," Nagisa pointed out. Nitori started to open his mouth to tell Nagisa about what Chigusa said, but Nagisa cut him off, "Don't give me excuses you don't even believe yourself, Ai-chan." Nitori nodded slightly.

"So, did Rei-kun finally propose?" he asked, deciding to move onto a more comfortable topic. Nagisa blushed bright red, grinning widely.

"Oh my  _god_ , Ai-chan! It was literally the most romantic thing ever!" Nagisa gushed, "Of course, it was a private thing. He had put candles all over our apartment, and he bought me roses!" Nitori smiled widely, nodding along to Nagisa's tale, becoming wrapped up in the details. It sounded wonderful. Nagisa and Rei hadn't picked out a date yet, but they were thinking sometime next year.

"You should definitely make Sousuke your plus one, by the way," Nagisa told Nitori with a wink. Nitori blushed again.

"I don't know about that..." 

* * *

 

"Ai!" Sousuke shouted, raising an arm in the air to wave. Nitori turned around, looking at Sousuke in surprise. Sousuke quickly approached Nitori, holding out Nitori's phone, "You left it on the counter." Nitori hadn't even know Sousuke was at the cafe. 

"Oh... thank you," Nitori said, taking it from Sousuke slowly.

"How have you been?" Sousuke asked, looking at Nitori with slight concern, "You haven't really been answering my texts..."

"I've just been really busy helping Nagisa plan his wedding..." Nitori replied, which was part of the truth. He was also kind of avoiding Sousuke.

"Hazuki?" Sousuke asked thoughtfully, "I work with his fiancee..." Nitori looked at Sousuke in surprise.

"You do?" he asked, touching his phone to his chin lightly.

"Yeah, he says things have been pretty hectic lately," Sousuke replied, though he did look a little sad.

"They have," Nitori nodded.

"Are... are you involved with anyone?" Sousuke asked suddenly. Nitori turned bright red.

"What? No!" he said, waving his arms slightly. Sousuke frowned slightly.

"Then... why have you been ignoring me?" he inquired. Nitori sighed, looking away from Sousuke.

"Because..." Nitori started, but found himself unable to finish the sentence. Sousuke looked like he was willing to wait for the answer, which only made it worse. Nitori bit his lower lip, furrowing his eyebrows.

"It's because I like you, isn't it?" Sousuke asked suddenly. His voice was soft. Nitori froze in shock. Sousuke... liked  _him_? That...

"N-no! It was because I like you!" Nitori suddenly blurted out. Sousuke's eyes widened.

"Wait... you do?" he sounded so hopeful... Nitori was starting to wonder how long Sousuke had liked him.

"Yes... I do," he answered. Sousuke smiled widely, hugging Nitori suddenly.

"I'm so glad," he whispered. Nitori blushed in response.

"Sousuke... you're embarrassing," Nitori said, suddenly very conscious of the fact that they were in public. Sousuke pulled away, still grinning at Nitori.

"Let's date," he said, and Nitori simply nodded in agreement, letting Sousuke take his hand, and twined their fingers together. They walked down the sidewalk side by side, talking in a way that they used to a long, long time ago.

* * *

 

"You know... I liked you for a long time, since sometime in middle school actually," Sousuke whispered one night as he laid next to Nitori, lightly tracing the outline of Nitori's face.

"Huh?" Nitori responded groggily.

"Well, I remember the exact date actually... December tenth, nineteen ninety-eight," Sousuke said with a small smile on his face. Nitori snorted softly.

"Okay, whatever... now come closer, I'm cold," he complained. Sousuke laughed softly, inching closer to Nitori, sliding his arm next to the edge of the pillow. Nitori smiled as he felt Sousuke's warmth at his back, "That's better..." he muttered. Sousuke touched his nose to Nitori's hair for a moment, smiling.

"Goodnight," he whispered. Nitori made no reply, as he was already asleep. Sousuke continued to smile as he drifted to sleep as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So many weddings, to be honest guys, very recently three of my siblings have been moving toward marriage. One's engaged, the other is married with a kind and my only brother got married just last month. I've been surrounded by weddings. So it was going to happen in one of my fics eventually...

**Author's Note:**

> "A Dog's Life: The Autobiography of a Stray" is a legit book by Ann M. Martin, look it up. I read a lot of sad stories when I was around the same age as Nitori in that part.
> 
> Second book is "Perdido Street Station" by China Mieville, yet another good book, let me tell you.


End file.
